Membership

Temple Ner Tamid is a completely egalitarian and inclusive community. We welcome interfaith, LGBTQ, multiracial, seniors, couples, singles, single-parents and families to join our congregation. Our worship is filled with prayer, meditations, soul-energizing music and thought-provoking teachings. We offer serious learning opportunities for both adults and children, as well as a broad and enriching slate of cultural experiences. Making new friends, discovering the warmth and joy of Shabbat, and working to "repair the world" are just some of the things that define Ner Tamid.

Membership offers the opportunity for involvement. Planning programs, visioning for the future, singing in the Purimspiel, volunteering in the Religious School, visiting the sick and participating as Shabbat and shiva minyan worship leaders all reflect our deeply-held conviction that the synagogue is not an institution but a community. If "it takes a village to raise a child", then it takes a synagogue to make a Jew. At Temple Ner Tamid we make Jews.

The doors of Temple Ner Tamid are open. We invite you to join us.

A Little Bit About Us

In June of 1980 a group of families from Reform Temple Menorah and Conservative Temple B'nai Zion created the unique entity now known as Temple Ner Tamid. They brought their children, their parents and their Torahs together, and they wedded themselves to each other beneath a huppah for all to see. Again in 2009 Ner Tamid welcomed members from Beth Shalom Reform Temple into our family and today, Temple Ner Tamid stands as a testament that two philosophies of Judaism can work as one. Jews who cherish tradition and Jews who hearken to the call of modernity all find a place at Temple Ner Tamid. We welcome you to join our family. Located just 12 miles from Manhattan, Temple Ner Tamid serves the communities of Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair and Nutley, New Jersey. The congregation, which is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism, continues to grow with nearly 500 households and 400 children in the Religious School. Torah study, aiding the homeless and celebrating with our own home grown klezmer band are just a few of the ways you can enrich your life Jewishly.

For more information on how to join the Ner Tamid community, please send us an email at info@nertamid.org.﻿

Moving Into the Area?

The communities served by Temple Ner Tamid -Bloomfield, Montclair, Glen Ridge, Nutley, Clifton (as wells as many surrounding communities) offer the best of both worlds — small town life just 12 miles away from the sophistication of New York City. All four towns feature beautiful old houses on shady streets, and retain many of the quaint customs of bygone days, such as Memorial Day and July 4th parades. But our towns also have everything the urban hipster might need, from cappuccino (frozen or hot) to stores specializing in avante garde comic books. You want art museums and galleries? Organic vegetables? Yoga and acupuncture? Live music, live theater, poetry readings? Play groups, dance classes, soccer leagues? Been there, done that. Whether it's a step class you want or a 12 step class, we have it all.

In keeping with our area's laid back feel (Montclair was once described by New York Magazine as the Upper West Side of the suburbs), Temple Ner Tamid is the kind of place where you can feel comfortable showing up for Tot Shabbat in blue jeans. (Just bring a kid.) You don't have to wear make-up or heels if you don't want to. (Just don't tell your mom.) Come check it out yourself any Friday night. Or call a local realtor for a tour of the area. ﻿

For Non Jews In Our Community

Temple Ner Tamid welcomes interfaith families. Non-Jewish spouses and parents are invited to join in prayer and festival observances as well as play a central role in their child's Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and may participate on virtually every committee and auxiliary of the congregation. Children of interfaith marriages who are being raised solely in the Jewish tradition are eligible for enrollment in the Religious School. Specific questions regarding guidelines for ritual participation in Shabbat and festival worship should be directed to Rabbi Kushner.

Entitlements of Membership

To be sure, the most rewarding benefit of membership at Temple Ner Tamid is being part of a very special community. You and your family can engage in a multitude of worship, learning and community experiences. You are also supporting the Reform Judaism movement in North America which provides many resources to our members and our leadership. The great contribution of Reform Judaism is that it has enabled the Jewish people to introduce innovation while preserving tradition, to embrace diversity while asserting commonality, to affirm beliefs without rejecting those who doubt and to bring faith to sacred texts without sacrificing critical scholarship.

In addition, there are certain specific entitlements that come with membership at Ner Tamid.

High Holy Day Tickets: Members of Temple Ner Tamid receive High Holy Day tickets for all household members including children up through the age of 26. Additional tickets may be purchased for other family members (not living in the immediate area) for an additional charge per person.

Religious School Enrollment: Only members of Temple Ner Tamid can enroll their children in our Religious School. This does not apply to Temple Tots or Shoresh Preschool. Tuition fees for each of the above programs are in addition to membership dues.

Life Cycle Ceremonies: All life cycle ceremonies, from baby-namings to Bar or Bar Mitzvah to weddings and funerals, are provided by the Rabbi and Cantor to Jewish Temple members without fee (there is an additional fee for bar/bat mitzvah). The sanctuary is available for any of these events to Temple members.

Use of Facility: Temple Ner Tamid, either its sanctuary, social hall or chapel/meeting room, is available to Temple members for religious or social gatherings. The Temple office maintains a fee schedule for rental of these spaces.

Cemetery Plot: Every Jewish member of Temple Ner Tamid is entitled to a cemetery plot (at an additional cost) in the Menorah section of the East Ridgelawn Cemetery in Clifton. More information is available from the office.

Union of Reform Judaism Membership: As a member of Ner Tamid families can enroll their children in Union of Reform Judaism camps and their families in Israel programs. Members also receive Reform Judaism magazine. More information about the Union of Reform Judaism can be found at www.urj.org.